Yahoo News 8 best artificial Christmas trees
Will you choose a masterful imitation tree or a stylish creation to watch over your presents this Christmas?
Oddly enough, the global tradition of artificial Christmas trees has been around longer than us Brits have had Christmas trees.
Moravian settlers in Pennsylvania were adorning wooden pyramids with real tree branches to create imitation trees as early as the 1740s, and artificial trees made with painted goose feathers were popular in Germany by the next century, just as Christmas trees were catching on in the UK.
Artificial trees have come on a long way since then, not least in the past few decades. From highly convincing imitations to creative designs inspired by real trees, there’s a better and more interesting range to pick from today than we’ve seen in any of our Christmases to date.
Read on to find out how we rated eight of the prettiest, most interesting and best-value artificial Christmas trees for Christmas 2018.
Sfeer voor jou – Colchester 6ft Gold Artificial Christmas Tree: £130.99, Wayfair
This golden Christmas tree from Dutch label Sfeer voor jou might well be our favourite artificial tree on the face of the Earth.
First off, no photograph can do its colour justice. Yes, it’s all gold, but it catches the light beautifully with a rich array of tones. And though its branches may look a little sparse immediately after unboxing, you can tease them all out easily enough to bring them up to their glamorous potential.
All in all, this tree is the perfect choice for families who believe the true meaning of tradition is to take the old ways and add to them with the spirit of the time. In case you hadn’t gathered by this point: we love it.
Balsam Hill – Nordmann Fir, 6ft, Candlelight Clear LED: £319, Balsam Hill
Balsam Hill’s Nordmann Fir wouldn’t look out of place in the middle of a forest.
That’s due in part to its carefully shaped needles, which look far more lifelike than any others we’ve come across, and in-part to how the undersides of the branches are coloured lighter than the tops, providing a slight glossiness and naturalistic depth of colour.
This tree is especially easy to assemble, with tags on each of its three sections to talk you through the setup process. Its lighting system is excellent: just slot the parts together and plug in the power cable to turn them on.
To top it all off, this is the most lovingly packaged and accessorised tree we’ve tested, with ribbons around the sections and a pouch of accessories, including spare fuses and soft gloves for use while handling the tree. If you’re after a traditional, realistic-looking tree, this would be our recommendation.
Available in other sizes and with/without lights.
6½ foot Kingswood Fir Hinged Tree with 250 Warm White LED Lights: £129.99, Hayes Garden World
This tree offers a classic Christmas tree silhouette in a lovely deep green, with warm and cosy LEDs.
From across a dimly lit room, this elegant Kingswood Fir looks a lot like the real thing. Especially after a few festive brandies. Its tall, thin design is perfect for small spaces – whether it’s up or in storage.
Considering its mid-range price, it does just about everything extremely well. Its branches flex into shape nice and easily, and its “needles” are very well attached – only a few dropped off while we were rearranging its lights (a task not for the faint-hearted as they are quite tightly wound-on).
Lights4Fun – Mini Bottle Brush Christmas Tree: £9.59, Light4Fun
We’re big fans of this adorably inventive bottle brush tree from fab family business, Lights4Fun. It could make a great ice-breaker on the Christmas dinner-table, and perhaps even a serviceable bottle cleaner once the celebrations are over (just kidding – we’d never really use it like that!)
From its snow tipped branches to its real wooden base, this tree’s every detail is charming and well-thought-out. Its tiny LED lights take 3 AAA batteries – so make sure you have a few in reserve for when the shops are closed over Christmas.
The perfect tree to cheer up your desktop throughout December.
3ft Woodland Carolina Bark Pole Tree: £59.99, Hayes Garden World
Artfully combining realistic features such as pinecones and frosted needles with overt hallmarks of an imitation tree (ie metal hinges at the bases of the branches), this tree is a really charming little creation.
We like that it has a realistically rough and bumpy “bark pole” for a trunk, as opposed to the covering of needles or tinsel used on many other artificial trees. The pinecones give a lovely depth of colour, which is precisely the sort of detail the devil is in.
In terms of setup, there’s not a lot to it. The tree is sufficiently well decorated to use straight out of the box, but there’s space for a few added lights and baubles if you so wish. Comes attached to its own plant pot stand.
Hayes Garden World – 7ft Dual Cosmic Light Feel-Real Iceland Fir: £749.99, Hayes Garden World
This tree is something quite spectacular, fit to grace the most magical of winter wonderlands. If you’re the type of family that likes to push the boat out for Christmas, this could be the festive show stopper you’re looking for.
Heavily laden with multi-coloured lights and artificial frosting, it really doesn’t need much extra decoration. That’s probably just as well, given how much it costs.
This is the heaviest, tallest tree we’ve tested, and you’ll find it takes a bit of exertion to get it set up. Thankfully, the rewards are pretty glorious. A bit of the “snow” does tend to drop off during setup, so some light vacuum cleaning may be required to keep the area tidy.
Lights4Fun – 4ft Everlands Frosted Grandis Fir: £79.99, Lights4Fun
Here’s one of our very favourite trees from an interior design perspective. The Everlands Frosted Grandis Fir may not be as big and attention-grabbing as some other options, but it does look to us as if that little bit more care has been given to every branch. With a delicate silhouette and pale, frosted branches, it’s both beautifully designed and beautifully finished.
Some of the frosting does fall off when you first put it up, so maybe give it a shake outside before putting it up in the living room.
Creates quite an impression despite its diminutive stature.
Argos Home – Snow Covered Hessian Christmas Tree, 2.5ft: £14, Argos
For those of you who’ve overspent on Christmas dinner, here’s the ideal option to save your festive bacon. This tiny, modestly-priced tree from Argos Home isn’t as realistic or stylish as the other trees we’ve featured, but it certainly looks sweet atop its hessian-wrapped stand.
It’s also the lowest-maintenance tree in the copse: super-lightweight and with no assembly required. The branches don’t stick out very far, so you won’t need many decorations to cover it.
This tree won’t be large enough to fit the bill for a lot of families – it’s shorter than a toddler. We can envisage lots of people using it as a desk tree, for instance, rather than a centrepiece Christmas tree.
The Verdict: Best artificial Christmas trees
We reckon that if you’re going to have an artificial Christmas tree, you may as well get something really creative. With this thought in mind, we just had to pick out Sfeer de voor’s glitzy Colchester Gold tree as our Best Buy. It manages to be both contemporary and traditional-feeling at once, and we think that’s an achievement worth celebrating.
If you’re looking for something more realistic, Balsam Hill’s Nordmann Fir is a beauty.
